From mayhem to redemption

Vegetable crates and construction materials are stacked behind the recycling and trash cans beside the back porch at the HIVE. The basketball court is just a few feet away. Sometime this weekend, some of the neighborhood kids came by to play basketball, and noticed some long, thin PVC pipes lying along the back wall in this area.

The PVC pipes were intended to be used in ongoing building projects at the HIVE. But to the kids, the pipes looked a lot like lightsabers. So they had a little duel. And left broken pieces of pipe lying all around the parking lot. And then, they found a few overripe tomatoes in the bottom of a vegetable crate, which made excellent missiles for hurling against the back wall of the building, leaving a vibrant red splash of color against the tan paint.

This afternoon, Tim surveyed the scene and pronounced: “It’s mayhem.”

So, what to do? First, we enlisted the help of some of the kids in picking up the broken pieces of PVC pipe. Several of us walked around picking up pieces while one of the boys rode slowly on his bike behind us, balancing a small box on the handlebars. We put the broken pieces of pipe, smashed tomatoes and other trash into the box, and when we were finished, the box when into the trash can. Just about that time, the lead “tomato thrower” showed up.

So we got out mops, sponges and a bucket of suds, and Tim and I began to help him clean the tomatoey tracks off the wall. Soon, we had a line of kids wanting to help. So we let them take over. They sponged, they mopped, they rinsed!

And Tim turned to me and smiled, “So I guess you’d call this redemption?”

As they cleaned, we talked a little about things like asking permission first before using other people’s things, how broken plastic hurts car tires, and why it’s not such a great idea to throw tomatoes against walls. Water is better. And more fun.

The wall was soon sparkling clean. And when they finished the wall, they moved on to cleaning their bicycles. When they finished the bikes and started splashing each other, we quickly turned off the water and brought out the snacks – organic cheese puffs and apples. Then they all headed inside to play on the computers.

I passed out cupfuls of popcorn to the kids gathered around the computers and on the couches, while Liz warmed up rice and gumbo for a late lunch. She was soon joined in the kitchen by two of the kids. “Can I help?” “What can I do?” As I left, she was getting them started stirring the rice and gumbo together in a big serving bowl. I had to get home, but I hated to go. The HIVE is not a place you want to leave.